The Walking Red
by Miss Lilianae
Summary: The world has come to an end: The dead rise and consume the living, and those that survive hunt each other for resources. One man stands against these forces, fighting for his own survival and trying to find his friends in a world ravaged by death and lies.
1. Things Get Started

The Walking Red  
Chapter 1: Things Get Started

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters involved except Red

It was quiet that night, the crickets chirped and the sounds of nature were obvious. The stars shone brightly in the sky with the lack of any moonlight. A figure rushed through the trees, stepping carefully to avoid any branches or small animals. They stopped up against a large trunk, their breathing was calm and steady, their features hidden in the darkness. Before them was a small circular clearing, two jeeps with mounted guns in the back were parked around a campfire, six men were sitting in a circle around the fire.

The figure lifted its hand up to its head and laid it against their temple before whispering:

"Targets sighted, six males, sitting around a fire," a male voice spoke

"Ironic isn't it?" A female voice replied through an earpiece.

"No kidding, requesting advisement," The male answered back.

"Black usually waits until one of them gets up to take a leak,"

"Copy that," The figure removed his hand from the piece and crouched very slowly toward the ground, never taking his eyes off the figures.

After a lengthy period of time, maybe an hour, one of the men stood up and grabbed a rifle that was leaning against a jeep beside him.

"What's up?" one of the men asked.

"Gotta take a leak,"

"Alright, try not to take too long, we need to be heading back anyway,"

"Yeah yeah," The man replied as he wandered into the trees. The figure quickly and quietly stood and started following the man.

He whistled a tuneless melody as he wandered through the trees, completely oblivious of the man stalking him in the bushes, eventually he stopped and a zipper was heard in the darkness, followed by the clinking of a belt buckle. The figure took his chance and dashed forward, bringing something large in an upward swing. The man didn't make a sound except for the thump when his body hit the ground. The figure swung the weapon downward, flicking the blood off.

Lifting his hand again, "One target neutralized, now what?"

"Man, you are bad at this aren't you?" The woman's voice replied over the earpiece.

"This is Black or Green's territory, not mine,"

"Yeah yeah, anyway, Black disposes of the body, usually he hides in a bush or something, then he waits for them to send another man or two after the dead one, pick them off until only one or two are left then move in and make your demands,"

"Understood," The figure lifted the large object up over his head and the sound of a blade sliding into its sheath sounded quietly amongst the trees, after the blade clicked into place he knelt down and grabbed the man's legs, dragging him through the underbrush before eventually dropping him into a bush.

Returning to his position at the edge of their camp the figure knelt back down and waited, although this time it didn't take nearly as long, the static of a radio echoed over the camp and one of the men stood up and leaned into one of the jeeps

"This is Alpha team, watcha need?"

A garbled voice came over the speaker but they were too far away for the figure to hear.

"You sure? I thought we had more time?"

Another garbled reply.

"Alright, we're on our way," The man leaned back into the jeep and as he stepped away from the vehicle one of the others stood up.

"What did base want?" He asked.

"Says we're loading out in two days, wants everyone back and accounted for. Somebody go get Charlie and make sure he didn't fall asleep out there,"

The man who was already standing sighed as he grabbed his rifle and walked into the trees, clicking a flashlight that was taped under the barrel of his gun to provide some light. The figure laid as flat as he could and remained perfectly still, waiting as the light swept over his head. He listened as the man's footsteps began to get louder and louder, then softer and softer, passing him while traveling in the direction of Charlie. After a minute he couldn't hear the footsteps anymore, he leapt to his feet and disappeared into the trees, heading back toward where he had killed Charlie. As he made his way through the forest he heard the man mutter something like:

"What the hell?"

The figure mentally scolded himself, he'd forgotten to hide Charlie's gun, it was still laying in the spot he had started to do his business. He was only a few steps away from the man when he stepped on a branch and it snapped loudly, the man turned with his gun pointed in front of him and before him stood the figure revealed in the flashlight. They were thin, average height, but their features were hidden under a red hood and coat. His face was covered in a black cloth that made it impossible to see his features, but allowed him to see those he was hunting.

"What the hell?!" The man asked in surprise.

The figure didn't waste the opportunity, taking advantage of the man's stunned reaction he drew a large, red-bladed sword from his back and cut the man in two at the waist. He fell to the ground with a thump, followed by his knees as they collapsed. The figure flicked his blade of the blood and sheathed it on his back once again. Kneeling down he picked up the gun and clicked off the flashlight. Taking care to hide both guns and both halves of the new man in a different bush than Charlie, the figure returned to the campsite to find the rest of the men were packed up and waiting, their fire was now smoking coals, providing very little light.

"Where are those two?" The man who'd answered the radio asked.

"You think Charlie got lost and Adam can't find him?" Another asked, he sounded much younger than anyone else in the group.

The figure waited patiently, wanting to see how this played out, when he heard something walking through the woods behind him. He laid low and tried to remain as perfectly still as he could. Listening as the sound drew closer.

"Here they come," The leader said as he lifted his gun and turned on the flashlight. As the light hit the trees Charlie stumbled out, a large hole in his chest where the Figure had stabbed him.

"What the hell!? Charlie are you ok?" The younger man asked

Charlie let out a throaty snarl and began to walk toward the group.

"Charlie, man, if this is some kind of joke you better knock it off!" The young man shouted.

The team lifted their guns and watched as Charlie stumbled closer, when he was a few yards away the leader fired and put a handful of shots into Charlie's chest, staggering him, but he kept coming, and in a second he was on top of the leader, the man began screaming as Charlie ripped into his chest with his bare hands.

The figure lifted his hand to his head "My god, are you seeing this?"

"Yes and no, I can't watch that, look away and get the hell out of there," She said.

The figure needed no further motivation, he stood up and made a B-line in the opposite direction of the camp, as he sprinted through the trees he began to hear more of those throaty snarling sounds that Charlie had been making, after a few minutes of running the figure burst from the tree line onto a road. He turned and began jogging up the pavement until he came to a vehicle. From the outside it appeared to be a phone-line company's repair van, but inside it was actually a mobile mini-base for people like the figure. He sprinted up to the back doors of the van and once he had his hands on the latch threw them open and got inside, he slammed the doors behind him and made his way up to the front where the driver and passenger seats were. He reached up and hit the lock button. The doors all locked and he sighed in relief, collapsing onto his rear and leaning back against the wall of the van. He put his hand up to his head again.

"What's the plan now?"

"Just get back to base, we need to figure out what's going on, more operatives are calling in with similar situations,"

"Great, so this thing isn't isolated," He said sarcastically.

"No, as far as we can tell it seems to be affecting people all over the nation,"

"What the hell," He stood up and made his way to the driver's seat, he slid the large blade off his back and placed it into the foot area of the passenger seat and let the rest of it lean against the seat. He reached down under his chair and produced a set of keys. Starting the van he turned back onto the road and drove off, leaving the men in the forest behind.

As he started down the road he noticed human figures were shambling along on the edge of the road, and as he approached they turned toward his vehicle and tried to give chase, but they were only walking at best.

"What is going on?" He asked himself as he watched a person reach out for his van as he drove past.

"Red are you there?" The woman's voice came in over his headset.

"Why are you breaking comm. rules?" He asked as he put his hand on his head.

"Orders from the higher ups, base is being moved to DC, all operatives are to report to the central command, I'm on my way out and- oh my god!"

The woman's voice shouted the last few words and then gunshots were heard.

"Watch! Watch what's going on?! Watch!?"

"I'm here, one of those things was in the base, it stopped coming after a shot to the head,"

"So they only go down with headshots? What the hell are these things?"

"I don't know, and I'm not waiting to find out, make your way to central command, I'm uploading directions to a nearby rendezvous point with some other local operatives, meet up and make your way there,"

"Understood, Red out,"

"Good luck Red, and be careful"


	2. Seperate Ways

The Walking Red  
Chapter 2: Separate Ways

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead or any of the characters involved except Red

Red his van turned down a long dirt road, traveling about halfway up the stretch in silence he turned off the path into a small clearing where he parked the van and turned it off to wait. Grabbing his sword he got out of the vehicle and slid it onto his back before checking the area over to make sure nothing was waiting for him. Once he was sure the coast was clear he sighed as he leaned back against the wall of the vehicle and slid down to sit on the ground. He waited, and waited, and waited for what seemed like hours before something stirred a bush on the opposite end of the clearing. Red leapt to his feet and gripped his blade's handle before calling out to the rustling bush.

"Identify yourself or I'm going to assume you mean me harm,"

A figure emerged from the bush, dressed identically to Red, only their robe was a dark blue color.

"Hey," it said, a woman's voice coming from under the hood.

"Geez Blue, don't scare me like that," He said letting go of the blade.

"Sorry, have you heard from anyone else?"

"Not since the silence order a few hours ago,"

"Any idea if we're supposed to wait for anyone else?" Blue asked.

Red shook his head, which only caused the edges of his hood to sway left and right. "I was told to link up with a few other operatives at this location, but how many Watch didn't say,"

"She alright? I heard gunshots over the comms,"

"Yeah, she's fine, one of these monsters somehow got into the base, Watch was able to put it down with a shot to the head,"

"I've noticed, they don't stop where most people would. I chopped off a few of their arms and legs on the way up here,"

"And that didn't kill 'em?"

"No, but it did stop them,"

"Jesus, we're dealing with something straight out of a horror film aren't we?"

Blue nodded once, "So then, what have you got in the base?" she nodded over his shoulder to the van.

Red stepped to the backdoor and opened it. In the back of the van on the left wall were two monitors, one showed the driver and passenger seats from an over-the-shoulder view, and the other showed the backdoor, which currently had Red and Blue standing there. The right wall was bare, but the floor underneath showed a simple blanket with a sleeping bag and inflatable pillow tucked into the head-rest of the bag.

"Bare bones huh?" Blue asked.

"I was deployed on a mission for Black, and he always ran light so I didn't want to bog myself down,"

"Makes sense," Blue said as Red shut the doors, "I just haven't eaten since yesterday morning so I'm starving,"

"Hold on, I might have something," Red reached into the front of his robe and produced a protein bar, handing it off to Blue she nodded a silent thanks and lowered her hood and peeled back her face-mask to reveal a young woman somewhere in her mid-twenties with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes. She unwrapped the snack bar and dug in, the sounds of her chewing the hard material was the only noise in the camp for a few minutes, eventually when she was done she discarded the wrapper and put her hood and face-mask back up.

"Thanks for that,"

"No problem, sorry I don't have any more,"

"It'll hold me over until we can get back to HQ,"

"So, what do you think should be our plan?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we were told meet up with other operatives, assuming that operatives were meant to be plural we should be waiting on at least one more right?"

Blue nodded, "I'll give them another hour, if they aren't here by then we'll move out and make our way to the HQ rendezvous,"

"Understood," Red gave a brief nod as he spoke his reply.

The two then sat in silence for a long time, Red would occasionally do another scan of the area to ensure they weren't being watch or anything was sneaking up on them, and on the third of these patrols he found something.

"Blue!" he whispered aggressively.

She looked over at him and noticed he was waving her over. She lowered her body and began to creep across the site, making sure to make as little noise as possible. She dipped down behind the bush Red was using for cover and as she was about to ask him what he wanted he put a finger over where his mouth would be and nodded toward the dirt path. She looked over his head and almost gasped at what she saw. A small army of those monsters was making its way down the path, groaning softly. The sound of their footsteps were damp _thumps_ on the dirt road. If Red hadn't been doing his patrols they would've been caught out without any knowledge of the creatures' presence.

Red looked to Blue who held up a finger. The two waited in that position for ten minutes as the creatures shambled by, then they turned the corner and disappeared from sight. The pair gave them another ten minutes before Blue turned to red in a whisper.

"We need to leave, forget the rendezvous,"

Red nodded and stood to leave, Blue following right behind him, but then they heard rustling in the bush to their left. Both immediately drew their weapons, Blue's was a simple spear with a metal shaft and head, the whole weapon was painted in a dull, dark blue save for the shining steel-silver head. Their attention turned to the rustling bush and eventually another operative stepped out. Wearing a dull-yellow coat with a brown leather sash running over its chest, the figure had come out with its hands up to show it was unarmed.

"Yellow!" both operatives whispered in surprise.

It nodded and then pointed down the road in the direction the creatures had traveled. Putting a finger to where its mouth would be under its hood it made its way to the back of the van and pointed at Red and Blue with two fingers before pointing to the front of the van and mimed turning the keys in the ignition. Red nodded as he and Blue spread out to either side of the vehicle. Red opened his door and tossed his sword into the back, a dull _thump_ came from the blade hitting the sleeping bag, followed by another as Blue's spear landed next to it. The pair got in their respective seats and buckled in. Yellow meanwhile had silently opened, entered, and closed the van doors. He checked the monitors and gave a thumbs up to show it was clear. Red turned the ignition in the van, but it didn't start.

"What's going on?" Blue asked.

"I-I don't know, it won't start," Red said as he turned the keys back and tried again. The van repeated a noise that sounds like something was trying to move inside the engine but couldn't.

Yellow tapped Red on the shoulder and made a slicing motion over its neck. Red nodded and stopped trying to start the vehicle. Yellow then pointed down to the hood button and disappeared into the back of the van. Red sighed and hit the button, the hood popped up in front of them and Yellow appeared around from Red's side to investigate. Red took the opportunity to grab his sword and leave his seat. Walking around the van he did a quick visual scan of their site before sighing again and turning his sword over to plant it point first into the dirt and look at Yellow.

"Just our luck right?"


	3. Others

The Walking Red  
Chapter 3: Others

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead or any of the characters involved except the Colors

Yellow leaned down into the engine block of the van, they tugged at something inside and then tapped the hood of the van softly to get Red's attention. Pointing to the driver's seat on the other side of the hood they mimed turning the keys in the ignition. Red pulled his sword from the ground and walked around to the other side. He opened the door and got in.

"What was wrong?" Blue asked him.

"No idea, Yellow pulled on something and gave me the signal to try again," Red replied.

He pushed the keys back into the ignition and turned them, the engine struggled for a second before it eventually turned over and roared to life.

"Thank goodness," He said. They heard the back doors of the van open and close and then a tap on the back of Red's seat told them Yellow had gotten in and was ready to go.

Red shifted gears and pulled out of the small clearing that they'd been parked in and turned down the dirt road he'd originally entered on.

"I'm glad you turned up when you did, probably wouldn't have been able to fix that myself," Red said, giving a glance into his rearview mirror at Yellow in the back.

They nodded and seemed to settle down into a ball.

"Good idea, why don't you get some sleep too, I'll wake you when I need a break or find something," Red cast a side-glance at Blue and she nodded.

"You don't need to tell me twice, I've been out in the field for weeks," She reached down beside her seat and pulled on the release lever allowing her seat to recline back a bit.

Soon the van was quiet save for the dull hum of the engine and the rattle of the van as its wheels kicked up the dirt of the road. Soon Red found an entry point onto a major highway and turned on it. Driving down the road he took note of the abandoned cars that were scattered periodically along the road.

"Geez, things happened pretty fast didn't they?" he asked himself.

The trip was mostly uneventful, until finally Red noticed something that made him stop and wake his companions.

"Hey, rise and shine, we have a problem," He pointed out the windshield.

The pair looked past his indicating finger and Blue gasped.

"What on earth?"

The trio saw that before them was a sea of cars that were parked along the highway.

"What do you think happened?" Blue asked.

"I don't know, but I do know we can't stay here, c'mon," He got out of his seat and clamored out of the van.

The other two followed suit, Yellow handed them their weapons from the back and they sheathed them on their backs with a satisfying click.

"Keep it quiet going forward, I don't want whatever caused this to know we're coming, understood?" Red told the other two.

They both nodded, their hoods flapping with the movement.

"Yellow, if you wouldn't mind providing some oversight?" Red asked the silent figure.

They nodded and reached up over their shoulder to produce a long rifle, painted in a dull yellow color. They began to move silently, weaving through the cars towards a large semi-trailer in the distance.

"Blue, stick with me, parallel movements,"

"Confident aren't you?" Blue's tone was joking.

"Just being cautious. We don't know what caused this blockade and if it's other people I don't want to startle them, or for them to startle us,"

"I meant that you're giving me and Yellow orders, we both outrank you y'know,"

"Technically you don't," Red responded as he began to move around the other side of the van "We're all equal in rank, you two are just more senior is all,"

Blue seemed to smile to herself under her hood as she stood still for a moment before shaking her head to clear her thoughts and heading off on the other side of the van after Red. The two silently weaved through the cars, as they passed the trailer that Yellow had been moving toward they heard a quick _tap tap_ echo through the metal softly.

Both responded in kind, it was a signal from Yellow saying they were in position. Their tapped responses were to confirm they knew.

Silently crawling forward the team made their way through the blockade, every few yards they'd signal for Yellow to meet up and scout ahead. Eventually the trees that lined the edge of the highway turned into tilled fields, then into tall buildings, and soon the trio were moving through the blocked streets of the city.

"I don't like this," Blue whispered to Red as she made her way toward him, shifting her hips out of the way to avoid scooting her rear along the hood of a parked car.

"I don't either, but Yellow hasn't spotted anything yet or we'd know," Red explained.

"Doesn't mean I don't like it any less," Blue retorted.

He nodded at her observation, "I get that, but we need to keep moving and figure out what happened here. I don't know if you saw it yet but there appears to be a military checkpoint up ahead,"

Blue looked past the car rooves, standing on the tips of her toes to get a better view: Sure enough she spotted a small, square structure with a red and white striped bar that extended out over the road.

"What the hell drove off the military?" She asked.

"Keep it down, and keep moving, we'll find out eventually right?" Red said to her.

She nodded and continued to follow him quietly through the cars. Eventually the trio arrived at the checkpoint and Red looked inside, he spotted the rotting corpse of a soldier.

"What the hell?" he asked him team as he recoiled at the sight.

"Something definitely isn't right here. It's only been a day right? And that group was small, there's no why those things were able overtake this checkpoint right?"

"What if they weren't the only ones?" Red asked her.

Yellow nodded confirmation before giving a slight swing of their rifle toward to the inner city.

"Yellow's right, we won't find anything standing here. Let's move,"

The team resumed their trek through the streets, now much clearer after they ducked under the roadblock. It was quiet as they made their way through the streets, occasionally they'd hear a noise like a trash can being knocked over or a cat yowling in fright at the sight of them so close. Eventually though they heard a noise they didn't expect: Groaning.

Red held up his hand in a fist above his head and the two stopped. He made a circle in the air with his finger and put his hand down around where his ear would be. The other two lifted their heads and waited, listening. Then they heard it too.

Red looked to Blue who shrugged, they then both looked to Yellow who mimed one of the creatures they saw earlier.

Red nodded and drew his blade from his back. Blue readjusted the grip on her spear and Yellow clicked the safety off their rifle. Moving forward Red pointed to a low building to their left, it was a single story structure, perhaps the garage for a car shop or something similar. Yellow took off in the indicated direction, and using the dumpster on the side of the building as a step they leapt up onto the small roof. They then clamored up the side of the much larger brick structure next to the building, they guessed it was an apartment complex and that the side building was actually an annex. Yellow swung around and managed to find the fire escape and used that staircase to get to the top of the building, squatting down near the edge they spotted Red and Blue and something that made their blood freeze in their veins:

A large horde of the creatures were shambling down the next street to his team's left, away from them. At first they didn't even realize the horde was moving, it was happening so slowly, but then they saw that the end of the large mass was continuing further down the street at a slow pace. Thinking quick, Yellow pulled out a small, hand-held mirror from inside their coat and used it to reflect the sun down into Red and Blue's path. The two stopped and looked in the direction of the reflection and spotted Yellow on the roof, they pointed down the next street and made an unmistakable gesture of running a hand across their throat. The pair both lifted an arm to show they understood and made their way to the right hand side of the street, ducking behind the few parked cars in the street. They continued in this fashion until they came parallel to the street, Red risked a look up and gasped at what he saw. The same horde of the creatures was still moving away from them. He looked to Blue who was also watching the thronging mass before them. Right as Red began to breathe in to whisper his orders to Blue they all heard something: A horse neigh in fear.

In a rush the horde began to surge forward, faster than before. Yellow, with their aerial view looked ahead and spotted a figure on horseback turn on their heels and take off back down the street they'd come in on. The figure ushering the horse to greater speeds. It was at this point that Yellow knew they could do nothing from up here and made a signal to Red and Blue, lifting both hands in the air, letting their rifle dangle from the holster belt they made their two separated hands into fists and joined them together over their head. Red and Blue repeated the signal and watched as Yellow disappeared from the rooftop, they heard a faint "thunk" from the alley behind them and eventually saw Yellow quietly, but quickly, making their way through the cars and link up with them. The trio then began to make their way further down the street. After a minute they heard the found, ringing sound of a gunshots and assumed the figure was being cornered and trying to stop the creatures.

"Should we do something?" Blue asked.

Red thought about that himself as he considered their options. Perhaps the stranger might know something, maybe it would be worth it to try and save them, but then his mind returned to the horde and he realized there was no way they could do something like that.

"No, we can't. Let's just keep moving," Red told her.

She nodded and they continued. After a few blocks they heard the horde's groaning grow louder and a few more gunshots.

"He seems to be doing well for himself," Blue commented.

"Too well… c'mon," Red whispered as he took off down a street toward the gunshots. The pair followed shortly behind him, they stopped as Red came to a small alley with a chain link fence to block its entrance. He sheathed his sword and leapt up, his fingers clasping between the links on the fence. He clamored up and over the barrier and then once he was on the other side waited for Blue and Yellow to do the same. They continued on, quietly, and as they rounded a corner just in time to see a door close ahead of them.

Red held his finger up over his lips and the two silently readied their weapons while he reached up and drew his sword. They stalked forward slowly and once they were outside the door Red grasped the handle and gave his team a look. He counted down with the fingers gripping his blade and when he had his entire hand wrapped around the handle he slowly and quietly tried to open the door. It creaked slightly and that made him wince as he realized that might blow their cover. There wasn't anything they could now though and he led the way inside. The trio entered and Yellow silently closed the door behind them before they wandered through the dark building. Eventually they found themselves standing on the sales floor of a department store, but the dark forms of the clothing racks wasn't what had grasped their attention: It was the group of six figures staring back at them.

"Who are you?" One asked, a younger man of Asian descent wearing a baseball cap and jersey.

Red looked back to his team and they nodded. He turned back and locked his eyes on the Asian man's. "My name is Red, this is my team. Can you please tell us what the hell is going on around here?"


End file.
